Alcatel-Lucent to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide

French telecom-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent will cut 15,000 jobs worldwide, but create 5,000 other posts, financial newspaper Les Echos said on its website Monday. The company, which has lurched from crisis to false dawn to crisis since it was formed of a merger, also plans to close sites in the French cities of Toulouse and Rennes. "The telecom-equipment maker will on Tuesday morning present to the group's European works council a plan for large-scale job cuts, of 15,000 jobs in the world," said the paper without giving its sources. "At the same time the group which today employs 72,000 people in the world will create 5,000 other jobs," Les Echos added. Alcatel-Lucent posted a loss of 885 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the six months to June, compared with a loss of 396 million euros for the same period in 2012.